“What? God damn it!” I yelled as I threw the note across the room.
Jackson had just ditched me and gone off to get Ana all by himself.
Chapter Nine
JACKSON
Roxanne was growing on me and I didn’t want her to be in the middle of a potentially dangerous situation at Stephano’s house. She had done really good work the night before at the club and it was my turn to get some stuff done.
As I left the hotel room, I knew that I was going to make her really angry by going without her. But after all that talk about Rose throughout the night, I had a bad feeling about Roxanne being involved in the whole thing. There was no need for it.
I would make sure and tell Chase that she had helped a great deal and that she should get the money he promised her. But there just was no way I wanted her to be involved in this part. Stephano had probably told his goon to kill her, and if I hadn’t come along, she would have been dead. I knew Roxanne thought she wasn’t very trusting of people, but the sheer idea that she trusted Stephano at all showed she just couldn’t think straight in this situation. I had no option but to leave her at the hotel.
Star Island was a very small manmade island home to a highly exclusive neighborhood in South Beach Miami. I had taken a tour there once when my family traveled to Miami. I found that my old memories of the island were surprisingly accurate when I arrived to take a look around. From what I remembered, the island had private security and cost millions of dollars in property taxes each year. Only the elite of the elite would choose to live on an island like that.
The problem that I saw was going to be how I could gain access to Stephano’s home if the island had so much security. I was going to have to find a way in, and once I did that, I would just grab Ana and get out of there. It wasn’t likely that she was being guarded by more than one man, and I could easily take out one guy.
To help with my investigation of the island, I decided to pretend to be a tourist and take a water tour of the area with Duck Boat Tours. It would give me the vantage point of going all the way around the island and hopefully, the tour guide would even point out which house was Stephano’s. Though, I was positive I could figure it out by the amount of security around the home.
People who participated in illegal activity often had one of two set ups for their security systems. Either they used high tech cameras and other warning systems, or they used men with guns that shot people. I needed to know which system Stephano had going on if I was going to break in and take Ana.
“One ticket please,” I said to the man in front of the boat that also drove as a vehicle from South Beach to the water.
“Would you like the star tour or regular tour?”
“You know, I think I’d like the star tour. I want to know where all the celebrities live,” I said with as much fake enthusiasm as I could muster.
Luckily, the tour guide wasn’t very perceptive and didn’t care what I wanted the tour for. He seemed more than happy to take my money as I got on the tour boat behind him. The boat was packed with about two dozen tourists, all very excited to experience the vehicle that drove on the street and then right into the water.
After about thirty minutes of watching him convince people to take the star tour and not the regular tour, our boat was filled up and we were able to make our way through the streets of Miami and toward the waterway. The people who insisted on taking the normal tour had to get off our boat and onto the boat that was behind us.
The vehicle we were in was pretty ingenious. It had tires and drove like a car until we made it to the water, where the boat engine took over to guide us through the water toward Star Island. It seemed like a good money maker for anyone who had such a boat in the Miami area.
“Technically, Star Island is a public property, although the security gate and guard out front is often enough to prevent people from driving on the island,” the tour guide started to say as we made our way over the bridge toward where we would enter the water.
“Excuse me, did you say it is public property? So, anyone can drive onto the island?” I asked.
“Yes, sir. But the security guard will write down your license plate and remind you to stay on the main roads. You are not allowed in any of the homes and you will be charged with trespassing if you even walk in their yards. Every corner has security cameras and the guards watch them very closely.”
I felt an instant sense of relief at the information the man shared. If the streets were public, then I could easily rent a vehicle and drive into the neighborhood. Certainly, I risked much more than being arrested for trespassing if I was going to be at Stephano’s house. I knew that he would just kill me if he realized I was there to steal one of his girls.
“That’s fun, thanks,” I said with my big tourist smile.
“To tell you the truth, though, you’ll get a better view of the houses from the water. On the street, you just see big walls. Now, if you look to our right you will see Sylvester Stallone’s house.” The guide started in on his program.
As our tour made its way around the island, I could tell that the guide was probably very accurate about having better access to the houses from the water. The houses had lots of shrubbery and bushes, but minimal security from the water to their homes. I suspected they still had motion detectors and maybe even dogs, but the front gate was where they built ten-foot walls and iron gates. Obviously, those things would have obstructed their view if they put such a security measure near their waterfront.
I had to decide which way would be best for me to get into Stephano’s house. Both seemed extremely easy, but the real problem would be figuring out what security system he had going on. A good guard dog could often throw off even the best break-in attempt.
Our tour through the water named a lot of big celebrities, but I noticed the tour guide never mentioned any of the other people who lived on Star Island. Of course, there was Stephano, but I wondered who else hid away on the tiny island. It seemed the perfect location to hide away from law enforcement. The secluded affluent neighborhood was the last place police would look for criminals.
As the tour ended, I needed to find out more information on how tough the security was on the island. It was pretty clear to me that I wasn’t going to make it into Stephano’s house that day, but I could gather a great deal of information to make things easier the next time I came to the island.
“Hey, George, that was a great tour. Can I buy you a drink?” I said as we disembarked.
“I’ve got another tour, then we usually head over to The Heat across the street. You’re welcome to join us. Ex military?” The tour guide wasn’t as inept at seeing clues as I thought he was.
“Yes, sir.”